OC Dad Allegedly Caught on Camera Torturing Infant Son

An Orange County man will stand trial Thursday after allegedly being caught on a hidden camera swinging his 2-month-old son by the neck, then punching, strangling, shaking and trying to suffocate the infant, officials said.

Joshua Allen Robey, 26, of Costa Mesa, is charged with attempted murder, torture and child abuse with a sentencing enhancement for causing great bodily injury to a child under 5 years old, the Orange County district attorney's office reported. Robey's trial will be held at the North Justice Center in Fullerton.

If convicted, he faces a maximum 15 years to life in state prison.

According to prosecutors, in October 2011 Robey was living in Anaheim with his girlfriend of two years, their 2-month-old son and his girlfriend's mother. He then moved to a Costa Mesa motel.

Three weeks after he moved out, Robey went back to his girlfriend's home to babysit their son. His girlfriend had secretly installed a hidden camera, because she thought Robey was cheating on her, authorities said.

The D.A.'s office said the camera caught Robey strangling, slapping and punching his baby in the chest. He was also seen wrapping a blanket around the baby's neck, lifting the blanket like a noose, and swinging the baby around for more than a minute. Robey also grabbed his son by the throat, lifted him in the air and shook him over and over, prosecutors said.

When the baby began to cry, Robey allegedly tried to suffocate him by covering the infant's mouth with a blanket and putting tape over his nose and mouth.

Robey's girlfriend saw the alleged child abuse when she watched the video. The infant's grandmother saw the tape the next day and took the baby to the hospital, prosecutors said.

Robey was arrested at a motel in Santa Ana that night.

Authorities said the baby suffered fractured ribs, bleeds to the brain and liver injuries.

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